Arsenal dominated a very poor Southampton side. But once again we failed to make the game safe for far too long, and it could so easily have turned into one of those frustrating draws up till the point we got a lucky second with 15 minutes to go.

Pires scored the first after just 5 minutes. Lundekvam gave the ball away, and Ljungberg and Wiltord worked it to Bob who side-footed home. All looking very easy and composed, and like we ought to score a hatful.

Saints had one danger moment in the first half, Upson falling asleep and letting Pahars in - but (Arsenal-style?) he went for an over-elaborate finish, chipping Wright (in for Seaman) but chipping wide.

Then Freddie had a shot going in before it was deflected straight to the keeper. Then on about 20 minutes Wiltord was fed by Fred, had his shot come back off the post, and Henry missed an absolute sitter from 7 yards in front of an open goal. He had time to control it on the ground, kneel down, and roll it in with his nose. But he went for it first-time. Ouch. We'll be seeing a lot of that one. In his defence, it did come at him quite quickly. Still... Interesting to see a (recorded) interview with Thierry on ITV in the early hours of Sunday morning, in which he said that the worst thing for a striker is when he has time to think. So maybe it came at him too slowly.

Towards the end of the first half it was Freddie's turn to see one hit the post. Van Bronckhorst had a good effort which went over the bar.

15 minutes into the second half Marsden got a second yellow card for what the ref took to be a two-footed lunge on Vieira (after great play from Paddy - winning the ball with a tackle then skipping over a challenge before the foul came in). Of course people will once again be mentioning the number of red cards in Arsenal matches. It'll be interesting to see if any of them have any point to make. Was this one somehow Vieira's fault? Or maybe Martin Keown was responsible...?

As it happens, Marsden was pretty unlucky, as TV replays showed quite clearly that he simply stamped on the ground with both feet. Why he did this is anyone's guess, but the only damage it was ever likely to do was to his own ankles. I remember Zola getting sent off for Italy for doing something similar a few years back. There's no hint of Vieira making a meal of it though.

Anyway, let's be grateful that we were alreday in the lead when the opposition got reduced to 10 men this time.

Campbell headed over the bar from a corner and moments later made a mistake up the other end letting Pahars in again, but Wrighty was quick to cover the danger.

Then Henry got that second goal, a left-footed shot from about 25 yards deflected in off Stuart Ripley.

Bergkamp came off the bench shortly after, and Arsenal's formation looked more threatening for those 10 minutes. Hopefully a sign of things to come on Tuesday.

In case anyone heard me on the Capital Gold phone-in - I'd just like to say that the line was terrible: after Jonathan Pearce's first words I only caught about every other word from the studio! But it didn't sound like Pearce was responding to what I said at all (anyone know? He seemed to be talking about Lundekvam when I was talking about Bergkamp. Maybe he couldn't hear me either). Oh well... still a great radio commentator.